This application claims the priority of German patent application 197 52 326.9, filed Nov. 26, 1997, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a device for receiving, filling, and seal-welding of a high-pressure vessel which can be received and clamped between an upper lid and a lower lid, with a filling chamber being provided in the upper lid. The chamber is open on one side to a filling hole in the facing wall of the high-pressure vessel and sealed tightly at the other end by a disk made of transparent crystalline material. An interruptible filling line terminates in the chamber, and a welding energy radiation source is located above the disk whose radiation penetrates the crystalline material.
In a known device described in DE 42 08 841 C1, an upwardly directed central blind hole is provided in an upper lid that forms a part of a chamber. On the lid, an upper cover is additionally provided, with an annular seal being located in the circumferential area of the blind hole. A high-pressure vessel can be introduced into this blind hole with its annular seal by its upper cylindrical neck piece in order to be able to fill the high-pressure vessel and to seal weld it, with the vessel being clamped by the lower lid.
A particular disadvantage of this known device is the fact that only high-pressure vessels with upper cylindrical neck pieces with close tolerances can be received and processed. In addition, high-pressure vessels can only be introduced into this known device from below, because the chamber has a closed circumferential wall.